My first encounter with the renowned poet and literary titan Professor Niyi Osundare was in 1996 through one of his masterful proses. I stumbled on an old copy of the famous Newswatch magazine — a 1987 edition — in my brother’s house in Lagos. Newswatch, as a magazine of both the elite and the hoi polloi, paraded the crème de la crème of Nigerian journalists led by the iconic late Dele Giwa in the days of yore.

As I was flipping through the magazine from the cover page to the last page where Prof. Osundare held a column, I felt like a I had found a goldmine! The prof wrote a moving, glowing tribute to the legendary Thomas Sankara, a pan-Africanist, revolutionary and iconoclastic military head of state of Burkina Faso who was assassinated by his friend, Blaise Compaoré in a military coup on October 15, 1987.

As an avowed lover of flowery words myself, I caught the bug of Osundare’s elegant use of words. And from that unforgettable encounter, I literally felt in love with his irresistible literary sophistication and his captivating writing prowess. From that day, the fire of my literary enthusiasm was further fueled. And I have not looked back. I eagerly look forward to consuming analytical and thought-provoking literary outputs which emanate from the literary icon.

Prof Osundare is not one to garnish the truth or call a spade any other name. He always tells the truth to power through his satirical, pungent poems which he fearlessly deploys effusively to hit the target like a dart. The Ekiti-born professor abhors mediocrity and like a revolutionary, he has used his pen to change our vast world to make it a better place. I once watched him on a TV show, saying in Ekiti dialect — ẹrun kàn i jẹ, kí ẹrun kàn a hò – meaning, it is an injustice for one person to be feeding and the other one to be starving. This underscores how concerned he is about the plight of the common man.

At 78, (two years shy of becoming an octogenerian), Prof. Osundare has never slowed down in his both literary and public engagement. I join your admirers to fete you as you celebrate your birthday. May your light continue to shine brilliantly and illuminate the dark recess of socio-political enclave. As a typical Ekiti intellectual, may your poetic pen always roar like a thunder!

Ọ̀rọ̀ọ́lẹ̀ Baba Òkè,
Oke rú yọ̀yọ̀,
Mi kí mi yà fọn’ná,
Oke ṣ’ọra d’uta,
Mọ yá ‘Lósunta,
Ọ̀run Ùkẹ́rẹ́,
Oke suan ṣ’orire,
Ọ̀ṣun Ukẹ́rẹ́, leèyí, r’aiye kete!

Happy birthday and many happy returns the literary icon!

Korede Abdullah is a lawyer, writer and public affairs analyst